S. Africa Oks Protest Of Killings By Cops

CAPE TOWN, SOUTH AFRICA — Waiving a maze of security laws, acting President F.W. de Klerk announced Tuesday that a mass march will be allowed to protest a spate of killings at the hands of police.

Wednesday`s planned march in Cape Town would be the first allowed by authorities in at least 15 years, antiapartheid leaders said.

``I hope that tomorrow will prove that a new spirit can arise in our beautiful country,`` De Klerk told reporters in his first comment following an uproar over Election Day police violence in mixed-race townships in Cape Town.

De Klerk, whose government was reelected a week ago on a pledge to give blacks a say in national affairs, said the government has ``no objection to peaceful and orderly protest, provided proper cognizance is taken of the laws of our country.``

He ignored the fact that security laws and emergency regulations normally make such a rally criminal.

For one thing, a decade-old law makes it illegal to demonstrate within a mile of Parliament, which will convene Wednesday to elect De Klerk president. March organizers, who include the newly elected mayor of Cape Town and half the City Council, agreed to a march on City Hall instead of Parliament.

Ordinarily, protests are automatically treated as unrest. Under emergency regulations imposed in 1986 to crush a black uprising, unrest includes any illegal gathering. An illegal gathering is any open-air meeting of two or more people who have anything other than a social, religious or athletic purpose in common. It also is illegal to criticize police or to publicly support banned organizations like the United Democratic Front. Both regulations and many more are sure to be flouted in the march.

``I`m very pleased that the government has seen the wisdom and the justice of allowing the people to meet together and speak their minds,`` said Mary Burton, head of the Black Sash, a human rights group. ``It`s a pity it takes scenes like last week`s to persuade them to grant that right.``

Rights groups claim at least 29 people were killed by police breaking up Election Day protests last Wednesday.

The government also moved to limit the damage caused by Lt. Gregory Rockman, who went public last week with unprecedented insider allegations of brutality by riot police.

``If . . . powers have been exceeded, remedial steps will be taken, as in the case of any other official,`` De Klerk said.

Rockman was granted his main demand, a meeting with Law and Order Minister Adriaan Vlok, who announced that police would investigate his claims internally.

Rockman`s commander, the country`s highest-ranking mixed-race officer, said the lieutenant had ``full support from his colleagues-and from me.``

``The minister really wants to help and assist in this matter,`` said Col. John Manuel, commander of a the 250-man Mitchell`s Plain police station where Rockman serves.

But Rockman demanded a judicial investigation in which ``everybody can come forward freely to give evidence.``

The police scandal deepened Tuesday when a free-lance journalist confessed to being a police spy and issued a detailed denunciation of police methods.

The journalist, Gregory Flat, 21, said he had stolen computer disks from left-wing newspapers, photographed or videotaped protests for police and helped round up activists.

He said police routinely use a ``Jump Street`` squad, officers who provoke violent incidents so police can detain stone-throwing activists.

Flat said he was recruited nearly two years ago after he was arrested while trying to flee the country to Botswana. He agreed to inform after police assaulted him and offered to pay him about $250 a month, he said.

Among Flat`s most damning accusations was that he was warned to stay off the streets Wednesday night because there would be ``harsh action.``